Fourteen-year-old Charmaine can’t believe the way everyone in her family spoils her six-year-old cousin, Tracy John. Sure, he may be cute, smart, and funny, and he may not have a mother, but he’s also impossible. When Charmaine is put in charge of Tracy John two afternoons a week, his lack of respect for her authority drives her crazy. She faces a different kind of frustration at school, where she has developed a huge crush on a boy named Demetrius. She knows she’s not the type of girl Demetrius would look at twice, so when he asks her to start doing his homework for him, Charmaine says yes, working hard to convince herself that he likes her. In truth, even Tracy John realizes that Demetrius is just using Charmaine. The enjoyable banter and believable interactions between Charmaine and her family ground first-time author Allison Whittenberg’s story, which is set in 1975. They also ground Charmaine, whose behavior finally makes her pause and rethink her attitude toward both Tracy John and herself in an appealing, highly readable novel about an African American teen who is spirited, intelligent, self-righteous and, to her own chagrin and occasional dismay, not immune from making mistakes. (Ages 11–14)